Metro Historical Commission planning to honor Black soldiers with new historical marker
NASHVILLE, Tenn. (WKRN) — This December will mark the 160th anniversary of the Battle of Nashville.
The two-day fight marked a turning point in the Civil War. Now, the Metro Historical Commission wants to highlight the Black soldiers who helped to make it possible.
The Metro Historical Commission is continuing their efforts to honor the U.S. Colored Troops.
Two years ago, a marker was put on Harding Place dedicated to the two-day Battle of Nashville. Now, another marker highlighting the Battle at Peach Orchard Hill where U.S. Colored Troops (USCT) helped to fight and win for the Union over the Confederacy is set to go up on Harding Pike, south of Battery Lane/Harding Place and expanding the story of the USCT’s contributions.
Tennessee Historical Commission awards $7.3 million in grants to preserve historic battlefields
“A large part of the U.S. soldiers who fought at Peach Orchard Hill were U.S Colored Troops, USCT,” said Jessica Reeves, a historical preservationist with the Metro Historical Commission. “Sometimes we just, we find new sources, we find new, new information, and so it’s not that the older markers are necessarily incorrect, they just no longer are telling the fullest and completest story that they can be.”
This week, the marker committee approved the text for the marker and on Monday, May 20, the historical commission will vote on it.
Gary Burke, a descendant of a USCT solider who fought is helping spearhead the effort.
“These men fought on a two-day battle and were forgotten from a lot of the history’s pages, and so when I discovered I was descendant of one of those soldiers, I made it a passionate plea of myself to be involved in making sure a marker got dedicated,” said Burke, who also helped to get the first marker in place in 2022 after learning about his heritage.
“I found all this out after my father had passed away. I felt some documents when he passed away from the war department, and on the back of one of those documents that said my grandmother receiving a pension from the Civil War. So that’s how I knew I had a direct connection,” Burke told News 2.
⏩ Read today’s top stories on wkrn.com
If the text is approved, it will be ordered in hopes of arriving by the 160th anniversary on December 16. Burke hopes the marker will serve a purpose in preserving history.
“No matter, the series of circumstances surrounding it, it’s important to know that African American men has picked up the rifle and fought for their freedoms, for their generation, and for the generations to come,” said Burke.
Copyright 2024 Nexstar Media, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
For the latest news, weather, sports, and streaming video, head to WKRN News 2.
